A Memory Quilt Becomes A Comfort Piece During COVID

About two years ago, I was asked to make a memory quilt for a young boy. This piece was probably one of the most inspiring, emotionally powerful, collaborative and technically challenging pieces I have worked on as a freelance designer. With permission, I am delighted to share a few insights on the process and special outcome of this powerful quilt.

The brief

My job was to repair and use as a background an 80 year old quilt and transform it into a memory quilt for a young boy. The original quilt had been made by my client’s grandmother. It required a new backing and replacement of several blocks, especially a the top and bottom edges. Together, my client and I worked to incorporate over 40 of pieces of clothing and meaningful fabrics that belonged to her godson and which he personally selected. The pieces represented his First Nations ancestry, members of his family, his special interests and the places which have important meaning to him.

Designing the memory quilt

Because of the sheer number of clothing elements that needed to be incorporated, I felt it important to have a cohesive visual story. For this reason, I decided to photograph each piece and upload them to photoshop. This proved an ideal solution and in a matter of a few hours, I had a working visual proposal of the quilt design.

As mentioned, this young man is Indigenous so there are many cultural elements throughout the quilt. The very first piece he selected was a t-shirt with a print of grand-mother moon. The graphic is so beautiful and culturally meaningful that we decided to make it the centre piece. Around the moon, each moon ray represents a member of his family. His Godparents also suggested that we represent the medicine wheel colours of white, yellow, red and black as part of the redesign.

I came up with an effective way to incorporate many t-shirts together at the top and bottom of the quilt by replicating the design of the dresden quilt pattern using two t-shirts. I used one of the t-shirts for the centre star shape and one for the outer edges. Because t-shirt jersey doesn’t fray, I sewed each square and triangle piece with a topstitch and left the sides raw edge. I then used a green t-shirt to create a border between each block. Although not quite the same colour as the sashing on the original quilt, the green t-shirt border does create a bright and more modern addition to the pattern.

Finally, I added the smaller pieces which represented his many current interests to the centre of the remaining quilted blocks around the moon. We agreed to leave a few blocks empty so that over the next few years, he can add other pieces representing new interests.

Value of a memory quilt

This restored quilt was completed just before lock-down two years ago. A while back, my client messaged me to express how important this piece had become for her godson during COVID. “He loves it and it is a wonderful reminder of all the people who love him.” He has already shared it with some extended family as a story quilt of himself. We are guessing he might be holding onto it for many years.

Working on this quilt made me appreciate how so many clothing pieces can have a meaning and a story attached to them. Turning these into a memory quilt, or perhaps something smaller like a framed work, a cushion or bag can become a practical and long lasting tool to share our life stories.